Birds of a Feather
by PresentMinnow
Summary: Something was happening to Ava Ire. Her outgoing personality quickly became shy. Being haunted tends to do that to someone.
1. Chapter 1

Nobody knew what was happening to Ava Ire.

Participation in class used to be granted with her; it was so easy for her to partner up with someone, even if she didn't particularly know them. She used to laugh at jokes, keep up with friends, simply _have_ friends. People could tolerate sweet little Ava. Hell, some people would go as far to say they liked her.

Now, after coming back from summer break, everything was a struggle, and no one knew why.

Everything took effort she wasn't willing to give. Everything that used to be so simple, things she could do without even having to acknowledge them, these things were difficult. Getting out of bed, making herself presentable, the commute to and from school, they were all dreadful, but she could do them. She could make herself do them every day. Anything else had to be begged for, and in turn, never done.

Friends were falling away from her. Everyone had suddenly found something else to deal with. It took conscious effort to get people to even look at her anymore, not that they really wanted to. People treated her like the plague. Finding anyone to talk to was a challenge in itself, not to mention keeping up with a conversation. Her social skills plummeted with everyone's avoidance, and the vicious cycle made its way around once again.

With all of this distress in her life, Ava became counselor's gold. She would get called up to the office almost every other day, with a new doctor to talk about her dreams or look at inkblots for half of the day. Everyone knew something had happened to _Well, hi there Demon, long time_ Ava, but nobody, not even the highest ranking psychologists knew what it was.

First some of her friends became worried and told teachers, the teachers told their authority, and it became a sort of small school-wide mission to help her. People drifted away from her because they were scared. They didn't want this to happen to them. It was a burden as a friend to deal with her silent but very present sadness. Everyone had a good reason.

But a friend was all Ava really wanted.

Someone to confide in about her dilemmas. Someone to talk about what happened over summer break. Someone that would hug her and hold her and tell her that things were going to be alright.

And that was something she knew she would never have.

Ava just felt downright grey inside. Amongst her peers, she was left in the dust, far below everyone who had learned how to make friends easily, or join clubs in school. She was left with nothing; no feelings, no relationships, not a single care left in her heart. For dear Ava, as warm as she used to be, was cold and quiet, listening only to the voices in her otherwise empty mind.

Over the summer, Ava Ire had earned herself a demon.

"Ms. Ire? Can you hear me?"

The voice, caring in nature, sounded so far away.

"Ah, Ava? Ava Ire? What a beautiful name..."

The sounds drew closer. There was nothing to focus on, no other noises. Her little demon wasn't here to keep her distracted. She couldn't seem to drown the voice out.

Maybe she could get a little progress with this one.

"Thanks." Ava's voice was sweet and quiet. Sometimes that was the most that anyone could get out of her before the session was over.

Coming back from her daydreams, her surroundings became clear. Surrounding the table she was sitting at were some of her schools guidance counselors, standing and chatting amongst themselves. This was pretty regular for her sessions.

Across the table sat a woman, her hair pulled tightly back into a bun, smiling uncomfortably at her. She was one of the older psychologists she had been to, but her eyes reflected experience. A clipboard was tilted up towards her, where she had a pencil pressed at all times. After scribbling something very quickly onto her paper, she began again.

"So Ava," She was analyzing the paper she had written on before looking back up. "What do we want to start on today?"

She shrugged. She had been to a lot of psychologists that had the mentality of making the patient their own therapist. None seemed to work just right for her.

"We can... try talking about why you aren't speaking to anyone, or why you won't let your friends help you."

She was too blunt, and clearly didn't know much about her patient. Ava knew this wasn't going to work. Instead of experience showing, it was replaced with naiveté.

Ava responded with another shrug, her dark red hair falling over her face. She was drifting away, back into her own little world.

"Will you tell me about what happened during the summer? I want to be your friend."

That was a stupid question, and Ava wasn't the only one who knew it. The school's counselors were looking at each other with confusion, mumbling amongst themselves.

The woman looked offended. "Alright, can you tell me about your friends? About your family?"

Ava could hear the shuffling of papers behind her, a few people asking each other if they gave her the right files. For once in her life, all eyes were off of her. Ava was calmed.

"So they give me some sort of lunatic that thinks she can just walk in here and magically cure me?" Ava locked eye contact with her so-called doctor. "Why don't you go run along back to college and get your damn degree."

 _Well, hi there Demon, long time no see._

Ava didn't even flinch at her words. She crossed her arms and looked the other way. She heard a slam on the desk, and some hushed discussion around her. She didn't care. Worse had happened to her.

The doctor had left in a flustered rage, and soon followed a few of the guidance counselors. Ava was left alone once with a very talkative spirit.

She learned to not talk back. It would laugh and jeer at her, but she couldn't respond. People thought she was weird enough already. She didn't need them to think she was depressed _and_ lonely enough to talk to herself.

The counselor remaining signaled her to leave, beginning the long walk back to class.

"Nice going, Ava." The reddish figure drifted alongside her, giggling and smiling. "You _really_ got some progress in there!"

The demon continued to laugh, its pale face scrunching at all that it was saying. It must've thought that this was the funniest thing in the world.

Ava didn't look at her demon. She did her best at ignoring it with all of its negative comments about her and her experiences; _weak_ was something she heard often in its words. It seemed to drift from one topic to another fluently, jumping to her appearance and clothing, leaving nothing untouched from the insults it spat out.

The first few times her demon went on these tangents, it really bothered her, and when she was alone, she would beg it to stop. After almost a semester of dealing with it, however, everything the ghost spoke would seem like truth, and was taken as such. After she started being haunted, nothing seemed to matter to Ava anymore. She knew nothing she could say or do to anyone would ever change how people saw her. Staying silent, in her mind, was the best decision she had ever made.

As she got closer to her classroom, the ghost became uninterested with her, and left, merging with the walls.

Ava tried not to care too much when she would knock on the classroom door. She used to think that people worried about her when she was gone for the first half of class, but as time went on, her appearance was greeted by a few tired glances and the closest person trudging to the door to open it. It became the norm for that period.

She slid into her seat carefully and quietly, pushing her bag under her desk. Her hands were calmly folded, a sign of patience while she waited for the teacher or an on-hand tutor to start her on an assignment. Every single class she took had stationed her in the front of the classroom, so if she needed help from a teacher, whether it be on an assignment or for permission to go to the counselor's office, she could get it easily.

The people surrounding Ava wouldn't ignore her entirely. Sometimes the assignment would be passed to her desk, but when she would look up to see who gave it, everyone would be intently working on their own papers, leaving her alone once again.

Ava was patient for five minutes. Five minutes she was left alone, left without work to do. Another student across the classroom was struggling with something, and the teacher had sat next to him and started pointing things out on the paper, speaking in a slow, hushed voice. It seemed like no matter what he said or what he pointed to, this kid was just not getting it.

Just like Ava wasn't getting her grade up by waiting around.

She was studious, which was one of the only good traits that had carried over from last year. She knew the consequences of her actions in the classroom, what assignments were worth in the system, what grades would lift her into better programs and schools, and ultimately make her life better. Making good grades meant making good money, and in turn paying for some way to get rid of the one thing that ruined her life.

After a moment of silence, Ava realized that something was terribly out of place.

She scanned the room, left to right, seeing no sign of her demon anywhere. No fiery wisps trailing under the door; no specks floating amongst the room. There was nothing saying it was nearby, and that worried her.

That meant it very well could be inside her.

Ava raised her hand up it the air, looking in the direction of the teacher. The low mumble of terms and problems was continuous. She would never get his attention like this.

He seemed to pause with the student, but his eyes stayed glued to the paper. She decided that this would be the time to speak up.

"Excuse me." Her voice was quiet and empty, and the teacher didn't hear. She repeated it louder. "Excuse me, Mr.—"

He looked up at her with tired eyes. "Mmm, yes?"

Everyone was looking at her. It had been quiet in the room, and the sudden break of silence caught everyones attention.

"Can I go... C-can I—..."

All eyes were on her. Her words were stumbling. She saw some of the students roll their eyes, and it made her want to cry.

"...Can I go to the bathroom?"

The teacher mumbled, and whether it was a yes or a no, she took it, leaving the room quietly, her hands held tightly against one another.

As the door closed behind her, she heard giggling. Not even a moment later, the culprit showed itself, the orange wisps of hair burning with delight.

Ava walked, and it followed. Not a word was spoken, but it was still hurting her. She had always been alone, or with adults who didn't care when she lost her words or had her demon control her. Now, while she had been putting on the act that she had been getting better, she panicked and everyone had seen, over something as simple as _going to the bathroom._

Luckily, no one was in the bathroom when she got in there. She locked herself in a stall, sat on the lid, and did what any normal, stressed-out girl would do in that situation.

She cried. Loud.

It was awful and disgusting, having tears pouring down her face, staining her dark red uniform. She couldn't care less if someone heard her crying. She didn't care if someone said bad things behind her back. Right now, it was just her, her tears, and the empty bathroom.

Everything that had been bottled up for months was coming out now. She had seen all the times people had gone out of their way to avoid her, or when people talked about her behind her back. She knew, and she never spoke up, and now it was all flowing forth in a big wave of sadness and anger.

And her demon continued to laugh, floating high above her head.

When Ava was angry, or sad, or just downright distressed, it found immense pleasure in her suffrage. It would stay above, tucked away in a corner or a dark area in the ceiling and laugh. It would laugh and mock, and she did everything in her power to ignore it.

Ava didn't want to see it, and she didn't want to listen to it. She wanted to cause _it_ misery and she wanted it to suffer, but she couldn't. Most of the time she couldn't even talk back to it.

But right now was different. Nothing could get worse.

Her sobs rose into shouts of profanity, as she stood and started throwing everything she had on her at the spirit, pencils, papers, anything she could get a hold of. It stopped laughing and started smirking as the objects passed through its form.

"Why the hell are you doing this to me!? Why can't you just go off and just kill yourself, you..." Ava paused, her face red and streaked with tears. "You... You _bitch_!"

It looked impressed, but it smiled with its sharp grin.

"I'd been waiting for you to do the same for a _looong_ time."

Ava had broken. She collapsed to the floor, weeping, gathering up her pens and papers. Why didn't she just kill herself? Why didn't she just end it all within the day?

She knew why. It would mean the demon would have won.

Wiping excess tears away from her cheeks, she left the stall, heading for the door of the bathroom.

"Are you always defeated by something as small as that?" It shouted provocatively. "Is that why everyone thinks you're so weak?"

Ava ignored it, and it didn't follow. It lagged behind in the bathroom, and she was glad. She was done with it, at least for the moment.

Her tears still poured forth when she got to the hall, and it all hit her at once. How much her life had spun out of control since her little demon showed up. How she would never make any more friends, and her grades would plummet and she would never be fixed. How she was doomed, and worthless, and how everything the demon had said was true.

She leaned against the wall and cried. Who cared if anyone saw her? Right now, she didn't care if people talked about her, or if people laughed at her. Right now she was only worried about herself.

There was shuffling down the hall. She paused and wiped her eyes to see what, or who it was.

The boy at the other end stood still, expressing some worry and fear on his face. He was tall and pale, with dark hair on his head and lining his jaw. Ava could tell he was uncomfortable with the situation, not sure whether to approach or leave.

She sank to the tile below her, covering her eyes with her hands, staying quiet.

 _Please, please leave, I don't need this._ She shook her head.

 _Just turn around and leave, please._

She felt him standing over her, but she tried not to acknowledge him. _Just. Go. Away._

"Hey," His voice was low and calm. Ava lifted her head to look at him. He was right above her.

"A-are you okay?"


	2. Chapter 2

"Do you n-need help? Are you s-sick?"

Odin Arrow was no stranger. Before her ordeal, they had been in classes together, even exchanged a few words over the course of their lives. She was still wary about him, however, seeing as how much she had changed from the girl he used to know. Hell, Ava was pretty much an entirely different person now.A leaden silence fell over them. Her mind was racing from one thought to the next. Where was she going to go? She didn't want to go back to class, but she knew she couldn't mope around in the hall. She took a deep, shaky breath."I need a counselor." Her voice was quick and barely audible, only comparable to a mouse's squeak.

"O-okay, okay," Odin backed up, looking down the hall. "Do you w-want me to bring them d-down here?"

She shook her head. "No, I... I can go down there." She looked up at him.

No hand to help her up. No smile, no offers, nothing. He only loomed eerily above her. Classic Odin, or more like classic anyone-who-went-to-this-damn-school.

Pushing against the floor, she lifted herself up and smoothed out her dress, keeping her head low and her crying to a minimum as she walked briskly away from him.

This was one of the first times since the summer that she had been upset due to something that wasn't her demon. The way he had acted to her, even though she was obviously in distress, even though she obviously needed someone right then to sit next to her and tell her it was going to be okay, he didn't show anything but a bit of worry in his expression. What if this was what it was going to be like, where nobody will have the heart to stoop down to her level and bring her back up? What if everyone was going to be as neutral as he was now?

Even in her current state, Ava knew that she was overreacting about everything. She couldn't base everyone off of this one action of this one person, right? Not everyone could even try to have as much pure pride as her dear Odin.

They were used to her in the main office. Sometimes she just came in, silently grabbed a slip where you explain who you are and why you need to see a counselor, and she would sit at the table with all the troublemakers in school waiting to see the principal and fill her slip out. It was orderly.

Of course, coming into the office choking back tears, things were usually unorthodox.

They acknowledged her and her emotional state, one grabbed a slip and a pen as the others stared at her, empathy playing across their faces. Ava muttered a small 'thank you' as she sat and scribbled her name at the top. No one else was at the table. She got lucky this time.

The office staff were whispering amongst themselves, however they weren't quiet enough to be out of earshot of the redhead. They were saying things like, 'I feel so bad for her,' 'She's going through a lot right now,' 'Bless her heart.' For a minute, she felt loved.

"Ava?"

She looked up to the front desk. Through her watery vision, she saw one of the women had spoken to her. Ava really liked this one. She had a very soothing voice.

"Do you want to go home? You can be sent home on an excused absence."

Going home to be greeted by her warm bed, and sunlight filtering in from the curtains. That sounded nice, as long as she didn't get any wispy visitors while she recuperated.

Ava nodded, looking back down at the slip. "My stuff is still in the classroom."

"That's fine." She sat down and fiddled with the phone, saying something inaudible over the sounds of the building around her. She heard the click of the phone being set back in its place, as the woman looked back up at Ava.

"Someone will be down here with your things. Just sit back in your chair for now."

 _Oh no._

One of her classmates was coming to give Ava her things. The entire class knew she was going home, tear-streaked face and all. She knew that they would spread rumors about her, and everyone would think she's a freak.

Ava _was_ a freak. She knew that fact well.

She sank into her seat like a heap of lead, her face falling into her palms. She stayed quiet. She didn't cry.

She just had to ride this out, and then she could go home.

Running her fingers through her hair, she lifted her head up just in time to see a girl from class, blonde and tall, carrying a small, faded red bag, the straps held away from her slender body. It was set on the floor between them with genuine scanned the girls face. She had pity in her eyes, not hatred, not annoyance. It resembled many of the counselors she had been to.

She managed to squeak out a 'thank you' before she lowered her head and reached for her things. When she came back up, bag in hand, the girl had left. Sighing, she left the office quietly, starting on her way home.

• • •

There were perks to going to a preparatory school. One of them was never being more than half a mile from home.

The walk was lonely, but that was nothing truly new. The autumn leaves on the trees were just beginning to lose their bright flares, curling and turning a disappointing brown. The wind was starting to become cruel, pulling Ava and everything around her in all directions.

Winter was here.

Ava enjoyed mild winters, with cold rain and snow, lining her windows in the morning, giving her chills that forced her to curl up tightly under the covers. Those covers were safe. Even if her demon tried to control her, or talk to her, she couldn't embarrass herself in front of anyone else. Thats all that really mattered to her.

She thought about the peace she would be greeted with when she got to her room. Since classes got out in an hour, that would be an hour that Ava had pretty much the entire building to herself. With paper-thin walls lining every room, it was nearly impossible to relax in silence, or do anything without worrying about people hearing it.

The dorms were laid out in the fashion of the letter 'T.' The entrance was at the very bottom, glass doors acting like a window to the long stretch of hallway, that split off into two separate wings. Ava lived in the room at the very end of the left wing, on the bottom floor. That was about the best room anyone could get.

Walking down the halls with utter silence was an extremely eerie experience. The constant chatter and laughter heard from the rooms when everyone was there was replaced with Ava's soft footsteps on the carpet below. It almost made her miss the company of all the girls in the neighboring rooms.

She unlocked her door and stepped into the cold, dark space that was her room. Her bed laid untouched from the morning, covers pulled across the bed with obvious laziness. Next to the bed was a window, the drapes blowing endlessly from a radiator stationed just below it, giving off a low buzz as it worked. She had a mirror on the wall, a bathroom to herself, and anything else to be expected in a dorm. While some didn't exactly see this as ideal, this was what was considered home to Ava.

Her bag was slugged to the side, hitting the wall with force as she climbed into her unmade bed. Her head sank into the pillow, and she fell into a state of relaxation that she hadn't achieved in a very long time. There was no one around to bother her; not even her orange-tailed pest was anywhere to be seen. She was truly content.

Ava had never fallen asleep faster in her life.

It was a deep, dreamless sleep, relaxing beyond anything she had ever experienced. Even after her hour to herself, and everyone started trickling into their rooms, she did not wake until the next day shone its light into her room.

As her eyes opened, Ava knew this day had to be better. She would go to school and she would participate, and smile, and people would think she was better. This would be the day things looked up.

Throwing the sheets away from the bed, her entire body was greeted with sharp needles of pain. She recoiled into her mattress in fear, which she realized was sticky under her.

Blotches of red covered the cool blue sheets, turning her room into something resembling the scene of a homicide. Ava prayed that this was just an extreme midnight nosebleed, or some rogue period.

Oh, but of course it wasn't. This wasn't going to be fair for her. It never was.

She ran to her mirror in agony, seeing how she had her nightgown on, lazily hanging from her shoulders, with only half the buttons secured. She fell asleep in her uniform last night. Ava knew what she would find, and waves of dread crashed over her.

 _Don't let this happen to me. This day has to be better._

She opened her gown and gazed upon the scars, the open wounds, caked and covered with dried blood. Slices lined her skin from her neck to her thighs. The ones on her torso were still oozing dark red.

Ava bit her lip, managing to avoid crying. If she showed her demon how awful she thought this was, it would do it again. She would show the demon that it won.

She sat on the bed, staring at herself. She didn't slouch or hang her head. She sat up straight, trying to stay strong through this. Maybe it was just some terrible dream the demon came up with? Maybe it was starting to mess with her mind. Maybe this all was just some crazy trick of the light.

"You were so vulnerable in that state." An unforgiving voice cooed next to her.

It was sitting next to her. Ava didn't dare look at it.

"I've never seen you let your guard down that low. What a childish mistake."

Her mind was pulsing along with the sharp pains in her body.

"You shouldn't leave scissors out in the open like that. Someone could get hurt."

She saw it smile in the mirror. The blades, now bloodied, laid still under the figures feet.

Ava couldn't give it a reaction. She stayed still, her legs hanging limp, acting like her flaming ghost wasn't there. It was all she could do to keep from falling to the ground and weeping.

The predatory smile faded. Ava could see it creeping closer, fiery orange choking her vision. A claw came up to stroke her cheek, as it turned it's head to the mirror and locked eyes with the girl's blank gaze.

"Look at you." Its other hand traced the scars, becoming extremely focused. "It makes you look so weak, so... Pathetic..."

A quiet grunt escaped Ava's mouth as she tensed. She couldn't let it get to her. She could see her demon becoming frustrated. The demon furrowed its brow, trying to drag its claws down her host's stomach, even though it knew she couldn't be touched. Anger played across its face.

"No wonder no one really tries to help you! You never face up to your own problems! That boy in the hall knew how weak you were, and didn't even bother to help you, because of how pitiful you always act! You are no better than anyone in this entire school!"

Her eyesight grew blurry, and tears started rolling down her cheeks, landing on her scarred chest and burning. She was so close to beating it, and she still ended up in tears.

She made no sounds, wiping her tears from her eyes. She knew she was pathetic, and now she was reassured by the demon haunting her. By the time her eyes were dry, there was absolutely no sign of the fiery ghost anywhere.

• • •

Ava knew she couldn't go to school. Buttoning up her nightgown was already extremely painful, and she couldn't be walking all day with cuts that could bust open and expose her injury at any time. She had to take care of a few things, then she had to let herself heal.

First, she slid to the phone on her nightstand and called the office to tell them that she wasn't going to come to any of her classes today. She didn't know the person who picked up, which was better for her, because they didn't ask how she was doing or what had happened. They sorted it out and wished her a good day before hanging up. Ava was refreshed with a new sense of responsibility.

After she got up from the phone, she started cleaning up any blood around the room. The sheets, along with a pillowcase were thrown into a pile on the floor, to be taken to the building's laundry room. She hurt too much to bend down and get the scissors, so she kicked them to the middle of the floor to be messed with later. The bedding, however, had to be taken care of quickly, despite any sharp pains she had to deal with.

The laundry was easy. She lifted it into the hamper, rolled it into the elevator, took it to the laundry room, put the bedding in the machine for a long wash, got fresh sheets and left. No one was there to mess her up, or question why the hell she was wearing a bloody nightgown. It was straightforward and simple. She could do it.

Of course, she had to clean _herself_ up next, and that was a little harder.

Ava had been downplaying her pain from the minute she realized what did it to her. She wasn't going to show weakness around her demon ever again. No matter how much pain she had to deal with; no matter how much it felt like the blades were still in her skin.

She turned the water on in her bathtub, keeping it nearly ice-cold as she stripped her gown, now turning a dark brown from drying. She started cleaning herself up with a wet towel, starting at her stomach, where the slices were deeper, moving outward to her shoulders and thighs. The pain of simply wiping up excess blood had her whimpering and choking back tears the entire time.

She checked the temperature of the bath with her hand. Ice cold. Maybe it would numb the pain on her body.

As she stepped in and immersed herself, the cold water seeped into the slices on her body, squeezing a cry of anguish out of the poor girl. Nothing Ava had ever experienced had hurt this bad. She couldn't help but sob, her salty tears mixing with the water. Through her crying, however, she could still hear her demon laughing, cold and hostile.


End file.
